WELCOME

Mastering Music Mastering Life is an initiative aimed at supporting the Australian music industry and starting conversations about the mental health problems faced by creative minds.

Presented by Jack the Bear, the weekly live-streamed podcast features special guests who offer their insight and experience to assist young and old musicians who are faced with obstacles and questions in their journey toward finding satisfaction in their lives. The podcast has so far featured guests such as Tim Rogers, Mark Opitz and Michael Parisi – industry icons who have seen the highs and lows of music and mental health.

Mastering Music Mastering Life’s live panels offer a chance to get up close and personal with the Australian music industry’s most influential movers and shakers, whilst also providing an ideal foundation upon which to meet and immerse with like-minded creatives.

We strongly believe in earning our own keep rather than relying on grants and donations, so our projects are self-funded by the glory that is C.U.n.T Vinyl – a monthly subscription vinyl service featuring collectable, unique, limited-run albums that are recorded, mixed and mastered at Deluxe Mastering in Brunswick.

WHAT WE DO

Mastering Music

We promote initiatives, produce live panels and create discussions to assist emerging creatives in moving from learning to earning. Our aim is to provide a platform of information and service from which young musos can get through the difficult early stages of their career.

Mastering Life

With the average age of musicians stalling at a staggering 57 years, we consider it a priority to wedge open conversations about mental health and find ways to help dissolve the stigma of talking about mental health problems.

BLOG

05

Apr2017

THE RELATIONSHIP ECONOMY

one of my mentors brad burton in his book “get off your arse” talks about a thing called the “relationship” economy and he’s fucking dead on……we focus so much on the bottom line and numbers in our business and yet we forget sometimes in no matter what your industry you’re in……..you are dealing with people…..and empathy is everything my friends….. there’s a formula brad came up with…….meet / like / know / trust…….this is the 4 step process to birthing the relationship…… in the initial steps of starting a new venture you have to network…..it’s a fucking non-negotiable………this can be done at gigs, events, seminars and for those of you who are in remote areas we have Read more

as strange as this sounds your detractors or those who rubbed you the wrong way will be the biggest fucking teachers in your life……on the proviso you’re humble enough to see it as that and make it a knowing as opposed to a simple intellectual understanding………how you ask????……..by being exposed to situations and / or behaviours that trigger your buttons and make you react in a way that is usually unnecessary or disproportionate to that scenario……..not the most conventional methodology of learning but life doesn’t always do things the way you expect…… once you can finally accept what was necessary to learn you will without question be subjected to the Read more

fear and anxiety………it’s fucking everywhere and most of us live in a state of both more often than not..….wherever you look in the mainstream and even social media you see more negative shit that drip feeds you brain…….and in particular a part called the amygdala which is where fear is first noticed and processed….. most of us live with this so much and often we don’t even realize we are in that state…….many even get a strange and perverse sense of e=joyment of it even though they cant stand it… so……..what do we do and how can we manage this better???…….fear and anxiety have their place as survival mechanisms……if for Read more

quite often I hear of people who say they would like to make a difference in the world but either don’t know how or think it takes fuckloads of cash……in fact you don’t need cash……so how can you make a difference????………..well it can take many forms……..helping people feel better about themselves by giving a sincere compliment for example…….for the overwhelming majority of people this can make their fucking day…….volunteering for your favorite charity or cause makes a difference……sharing a friends facebook status or going to a gig and bringing friends also can be a great thing to do……..pick up the phone and call someone you haven’t spoken to in aaaaages and tell them how much you miss and Read more

if there’s one thing that causes more fucking stress than anything else it’s resistance……in fact science says so……when 2 opposite forces grind up against each other we get friction…and this causes wear and tear…..but this also happens in the non-physical world……..when we resist the things we see and don’t accept them for what they are then we get mental stress……..the images we see in the outer world do not match what we think they should fucking look like……no wonder we feel tired and worn out!!! my recent learnings have taught me that the sooner we can come to peace and accept situations for what they are the fucking better…….doesn’t mean Read more

we live in a complicated world…..while technology is meant to make life easier everything seems to get more and more intricate……..try and operate a remote control these days!!!!!……..it’s enough to give you a fucking brain aneurysm!!!!!!…….we have more information (and misinformation) as well, so sorting through the seemingly endless piles of shit can be very time consuming..……when all you ultimately want is to get to the bottom line….if there’s anything you should know about me, it’s that i fucking like simplicity…….tell me the nuts and bolts and spare me the fucking extra bullshit….. i believe einstein said that unless you can explain concepts in simple terms to a lay person Read more